Chapter 131

As the blue flames eclipsed the royal palace, Aurora had a thought.

‘Is this what arsonists feel? I can get addicted to this feeling.’

The feeling of power and authority that danced around Aurora was high and intoxicating. It was becoming her to come closer and to take a bite of this power.

It took considerable willpower and effort for Aurora to not lose her sense of this feeling of power. She had to resist the temptation of corruption.

The palace was burning and it would not be long before everyone would become aware of this. The humans of the republic were already eying this unnatural phenomenon.

But it was the abyss Aurora was worried about.

She was sure that the flames would not harm the body of the sleeping princess but Aurora could never be too sure.

Corruption was on the rise as well. The unclean aura that could be felt through the castle was overflowing.

Aurora had hot realized this before releasing the burning spell but the ice had been keeping this corruption in check.

The ice combined with Natasha’s real body was what slowed this darkness to stay in one place and allow the people down to live in peace.

“I need to do something about this corruption. Sleep or not, Natasha’s body will not be able to purify all this.”

Slowly but steadily, the corruption has started to escape from Natasha’s unconscious body. This was something Aurora had figured out long ago.

But since Natasha had very low divine powers, her body had begun fighting back against the corruption. Corruption could only affect the ‘divine’ things after all. It was relatively harmless to humans without magic.

Had things been left as they were, the corruption would have ended up being cleared one day.

But the cloning process had halted progress and the events of today seemed to have changed things for the negative.

It almost felt like this was someone’s scheme Aurora had fallen into. Aurora had no idea why she was getting such a feeling but she did not like it.

Aurora quickly looked back at the blue-burning palace and let out a sigh. Things were getting more and more awkward for her.

Just then Aurora’s eyes met a familiar face in the fire. It was a meeting that only lasted for a second but it was enough for Aurora to become shaken.

“W-What’s she doing here? Surely I must be mistaken. Why would that ‘Zoe’ be here? I must be hallucinating from the smoke in my eyes. Yes, that must be it.”

Aurora rubbed her eyes again but that woman was long gone. Even if Aurora wanted to chase after the mirage, it was too late for her.

And there were more pressing matters to attend do anyway.”

“I need to do something about this corruption. It will become a problem soon.”

The corruption was bringing the abyss closer and closer to the surface. If it was not taken care of now, then it really will engulf the Northern Continent without fail.

Just thinking about it was enough to make Aurora have a headache.

“AURORA. WHERE ARE YOU?”

Rita’s familiar voice worked like a soothing balm on Aurora’s tired soul. It made hanging on to this far worth everything.

“Rita? What are you doing here? You should have escaped by now.”

Aurora wanted to say a million things. She wanted to ask Rita about the new magical aura she was giving off.

But all that was eclipsed by the feeling of fear Aurora felt. She did not want Rita to stay here and be affected by the corruption of the abyss.

“I cannot leave you here and escape on your own. My conscious would not allow it. So I’ll help you out instead. Tell me what you need to do.”

Aurora felt hesitant in asking Rita for help. But she also realized that Rita was stuck in this situation now.

Their only means of easy escape was gone and now this corruption needed to be taken care of.

“We’ll need to cast a sealing spell all over this area. We cannot allow the castle to fall into the abyss or the whole continent will fall as well.”

Since the royal castle was the pillar of the continent, it will be the first thing to be consumed by the abyss.

Just because this castle was built at the highest point in the city did not mean anything to the abyss. It would rise from beneath the castle if needed.

“How do we do that? What all will we need?”

Rita didn’t even hesitate to ask the question. Her eyes were serious when she asked that and Aurora wasn’t even sure why she felt surprised at that.

After all, Rita had never tried to betray her.

“We’ll need an absorbing crystal and an amplifier. I can take care of things from there.”

“An absorbing crystal? Will this work?”

Rita took out a pure crystalline substance from her inventory. It was the highest grade crystal one could get their hands on.

It was perfect for usage.

“Where did you…? No. it’s not important for now. We’ll need to get started right away. Rita, I’ll count on you to amplify my magic.”

Aurora could feel the divine magic coming off Rita. Anyone capable of handling divine magic could work as an amplifier even if they had no prior knowledge.

“B-But..”

“You’ll do fine. I trust you to do fine. And we don’t have any other choice in this matter.”

Rita knew Aurora was right. Aurora could see it in her friend’s red eyes.

In the end, Rita lowered her hand and placed her hand in front of Aurora. It was a clear sign that she agreed with Aurora.

Aurora took in a deep breath before she began to gather her power. She needed to guide the corruption into the absorbing crystal and hope that it holds on somehow.

If the crystal broke or Aurora’s concentration faltered, then things would end in a huge blast.

It took close to a house before Aurora felt she was close to finishing. She opened her eyes to look at the state of things when she saw an arrow being fried at Rita. the figure who was firing had a hood up but Aurora could still see the image overlapping with Zoe’s.

Aurora tried to interfere but she could not move from the ceremony.

“It’s alright. Let it hit me since I won’t die. But you have to see this ceremony though at all costs. For me.”

Rita had seen the same thing Aurora had and she had made a decision.

The arrow hit Rita in her arm and she let go of Aurora. Rita was falling down into the abyss but Aurora could not follow as long as she was stuck in the ceremony.